Year 4 Reading Comprehension – BBC’s Gladiators | 3 Differentiated Lessons

This engaging Year 4 reading comprehension unit develops key KS2 reading skills through an original non-fiction text inspired by the popular BBC programme Gladiators.
Designed to save teacher planning time, this pack provides three fully planned lessons with high-quality reading passages, structured questions and answer sheets — all carefully differentiated to support and challenge every learner.
Skills Covered

Retrieval – finding and recording information (NC 2b)
Inference – drawing conclusions using evidence (NC 2d)
Vocabulary in Context – understanding word meaning in the text (NC 2a, 2g)

What’s Included
✔ 3 Complete Lessons
✔ Original non-fiction reading texts
✔ Differentiated passages (Low / Middle / High ability)
✔ Differentiated question sheets for every lesson
✔ Full answer sheets
✔ Teacher guidance & curriculum links
✔ Support and extension suggestions

Lesson Overview
Lesson 1 – Retrieval
What is Gladiators?
Lesson 2 – Inference
Training Day: Preparing for the Arena
Lesson 3 – Vocabulary in Context
Inside the Events: Power, Speed and Endurance

Perfect For
Whole-class English lessons
Guided reading sessions
SATs preparation
Intervention groups
Cover lessons and homework

Differentiation Included
Each lesson contains:
Low ability: simplified text, scaffolding, sentence starters
Middle ability: full text, structured comprehension
High ability: extended text, deeper reasoning, challenge questions

National Curriculum Links
Supports KS2 objectives for:
Retrieving and recording information (2b)
Making inferences and justifying with evidence (2d)
Explaining vocabulary in context (2a, 2g)
Summarising ideas (2c)
Predicting from stated and implied details (2e)